Malaysia: Car tyre sales worth US$78 Million in Q4 2010

The latest market data released by GfK suggests Malaysia’s passenger car tyre business recorded sales of over US$78 million during the fourth quarter of 2010. The analysts also reported increased popularity of American and European tyres in the market.

“It is not unusual for quarter four to register stronger demands as major festivities like Hari Raya, Christmas and school holidays all take place during the last few months of the year,” commented Jennifer Chan, general manager of GfK Malaysia. “In preparation for heavier usage of their cars for visitations and long drives, car owners tend to send their vehicles for their due servicing which includes replacing their worn out tyres, around this period of time.”

The Malaysian economy led the replacement car tyre industry in 2010. For the whole of last year, 3.6 million units of replacement car tyres valued at $252.3 million were sold in Klang Valley alone. Fourth quarter performance was especially strong; registering a 22 per cent volume growth when compared to the same period in 2009, and 29 percent when compared with the average of the first three quarters this year.

However, not all the tyre manufacturers in the Malaysian markets are cheering over the industry’s good showing. While GfK findings reflect increase in sales across almost all of the tyre brands, some brands were being out-paced and lost market share despite gains in sales numbers. For instance, quarter four replacement car tyre sales showed that Japanese and local tyre makers registered losses in market share when compared against the previous quarter. Japanese manufacturers lost a considerable three per cent of their market share while local brands lost close to one per cent. The biggest gainers were the American and European tyre brands with a combined gain of almost five per cent market share.

Another rising trend is the proliferation of Chinese brands in the Malaysian market. “As in many other industries where we see increasing presence of Chinese brands, a similar trend is also surfacing in the replacement car tyre market in Malaysia. Of the total recorded tyre brands tracked by GfK, nearly one-fifth were Chinese brands,” observed Ms Chan. “No doubt the combined sales of China-made replacement tyres are still insignificant at this point in time, but they are due to make a huge impact in the long run. Until then, the replacement car tyre market will continue to be dominated by local and Japanese players,” Ms Chan.